WILDCATS GO 1-1 ON TRIP TO ELL-SALINE

By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com

BROOKVILLE – The Moundridge boys and girls closed out their regular season schedule on Tuesday with a road trip to Ell-Saline where the boys scored a 15-point, 58-43, victory while the girls stumbled in the middle quarters and suffered a 16-point, 49-33, loss.

The win gives the Wildcat boys a 17-3 season mark while the Lady Wildcats fall to 12-8.

Both teams now prep for a tough sub-state beginning next Monday at Whitewater/Remington where they will have to battle through teams like Inman, Hillsboro, Hutchinson Trinity Catholic, Berean Academy, Marion, Sedgwick, Flint Hills, and Marion to get to the state tournament.

Here is a summary of both Wildcat games with Ell-Saline:

WILDCAT BOYS CONSISTENCY GAIN 15-POINT WIN

The Moundridge boys got off to a solid start to their game by taking a four-point, 14-10 lead at the end of the first quarter and turning it into a 12-point, 31-19 advantage at the halftime break.

Coming out of the intermission, the Wildcats doubled up Ell-Saline on the scoreboard in the third quarter and took a commanding 20-point, 47-27 lead into the final eight minutes of play where they cruised in for the final 15-point, 58-43 victory.

“We did what we needed to do tonight to get the win against a good, young, well coached Ell-Saline team,” said Wildcat head coach Vance Unrau. “We continue to be a little too casual with the ball which lead to unnecessary turnovers. We have to get the mentality that we want to win every ball possession, whether offensive or defensive.”

Landon Kaufman had an outstanding game as he led the Wildcats in the scorebook with 24 points that included making six-of-ten three-pointers while also directing the offense by dishing out seven assists. Logan Churchill and Barrett Moddelmog also reached double digits by scoring 16 and 10 points, respectively. Joseph Schrag did not score any points but did lead the team in rebounds with five while both Churchill and Moddelmog pulled down four.

Coach Unrau concluded his post-game reflections by adding, “I am proud of these guys for winning a share of the league title. Pleased that we battled through a tough last several weeks schedule and were able to secure the #2 seed for sub-state. Now our focus is totally on advancing through arguably the toughest Class 2A sub-state.”

SCORING:     1          2          3          4          FINAL

WILDCATS    14       17       16       11       58

Ell-Saline       10       9          8          16       43

Ell-Saline Team Stats:        FG 17/35 (48%); 3-PTR 4/14 (28%); FT 5/14 (35%); AST 13; REBS 20; TO 7; STLS 1; BLK 2; PF 8.

MOUNDRIDGE WILDCATS TEAM STATS: FG 20/44 (45%); 3-PTR 11/23 (47%); FT 7/8 (87%); AST 18; REBS 22; TO 0; STLS 6; BLK 1; PF 11.

MOUNDRIDGE WILDCATS INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS: SCORING (58 total points): Landon Kaufman – 24; Logan Churchill – 16; Barrett Moddelmog – 10; Henry Hecox – 6; Joseph Lane – 2. 3-POINTERS MADE (11): Kaufman – 6; Churchill, Moddelmog – 2; Hecox – 1. ASSISTS: Kaufman – 7; Churchill, Hecox – 3; Lane – 2. REBOUNDS: Joseph Schrag – 5; Churchill, Moddelmog – 4; Kaufman, Ethan Brandeweide – 3; Hecox – 2. STEALS: Churchill – 3; Kaufman – 2. BLOCKED SHOTS: Moddelmog – 1.

 LADY WILDCATS STUMBLE EARLY IN LOSS

For three quarters the Moundridge girls struggled to get the offense going, falling behind by three, 10-7, at the end of the first quarter and then trailing by 10, 24-14, at the halftime break.

After scoring just four points in the third quarter and falling behind by 17, 35-18, going into the final eight minutes of play, the Lady Wildcats finally put together a solid quarter of offense only to see the consistency of Ell-Saline did the same, giving Moundridge the final 16-point, 49-33 loss.

Kate Eichelberger closed out her season with a strong 20-point effort while no other Lady Wildcats scored more than six points.

“This was obviously not how we wanted to close out the regular season,” said Lady Wildcat head coach Kaleigh Huxman in her post-game reflections. “This was not a game we are proud of, but I believe in these girls. We are going to spend the next three days preparing for next week and put this one behind us.”

SCORING:                 1          2          3          4          FINAL

LADY WILDCATS      7          7          4          15       33

Ell-Saline                   10       14       11       14       49

No Team Stats were Available.

MOUNDRIDGE LADY WILDCATS INDIVIDUAL SCORING (33 total points): Kate Eichelberger – 20; Reese Schmidt – 6; Kaelyn Wedel – 3; Kindall Elmore – 2; Macie Woltje – 2.